WEMBLEY AWAITS!
Vase has Norfolk minnows dreaming of trip to play under the famous Arch
NORWICH CBS joint-boss Mark Collison has revealed the secret to their FA Vase success – not worrying about the results!
The Step 6 Eastern Counties League side are one of the remaining 32 clubs in the competition having reached the fourth round.
Last weekend they beat Yaxley 3-2 to set up a trip to Spartan South Midlands Premier division outfit Leighton Town. But Collison, who is in charge alongside brother Andrew, says every round is a bonus as they enjoy the distraction from their main goal of finishing in the top six of the Thurlow Nunn League Division One.
No Pressure
“We just say to the boys: Go out and enjoy it,” Collison told
The NLP. “And they pretty much have! We tell them not to worry about the result, if we get there, we get there.
“We’ve done really well to get this far. They’re playing without any pressure. We didn’t think about a Vase run this season because we’re targeting the top-six spot.
“Promotion, if we can get it, would be great but getting in the top six so we can enter the FA Cup next season is what we’re fighting for. Everything else is a bonus this season.”
The Norfolk side rewrote the Anglian Combination Premier Division record books last season by winning 28 of their 30 league games to win the title.
That was under the guise of Spixworth – they’ve previously been known as Norwich Union and AFC Norwich – before a name change in the summer to better reflect their location. They play at the Football Development Centre and Collison says they’ve got a talented squad.
“When we’re playing at our best we’re definitely good enough to be playing at the level above,” he said.
“Most of the boys have come from the Eastern Counties Premier or the Isthmian League.
“One of the boys, Paul Cook, played in the final for Wroxham and scored at Wembley – as he tells us every week!
“We’re doing quite well in the league, but the problem we’ve got is midweek matches. We pretty much lose every midweek game at the moment because we can’t get all the players there with their work commitments.
“We’ve just signed another four players so we can fill in those midweek games.
Following
“But we’re quite confident for the next round. We played Oxhey, who play in the same league as Leighton, and we upset Yaxley as well.”
Their form has captured the attention of locals with their final home game of last season attracting a crowd of close to 900. And there will be plenty of support when they make the trip to Bedfordshire in the fourth round.
“We’ve got an amazing set of supporters as well who come away with us for the Vase games – they are very vocal!” Collison said.
“Everyone’s commenting on it so far wherever we’ve been. We get a load of them on the coach with us, but they’ve said for the next one they think they can fill their own! It’s been a great journey!